Jaina Cipriano casts a spell with her photography

Sunday

Feb 4, 2018 at 12:01 AM

By Chris Bergeron, Correspondent

NATICK - Photography lets Jaina Cipriano stage scenes with models in her parents’ basement to create dreamlike portraits that “invite wonder,” and now that invitation is extended to all who visit Gallery 55.

Part documentarian, part surrealist, the 24-year-old Lexington artist with electric blue hair is exhibiting 36 striking photos titled “The Garden” at Gallery 55 in Natick that conjure imaginary worlds for each of her subjects.

A woman with lurid red lipstick hurls a stuffed teddy bear like a hand grenade into the stormy fluorescent night.

As if waking from a dream, an orange-haired woman with a tattooed leg seems tethered to a green telephone and a creepy-looking doll.

Suggesting an outtake from “Game of Thrones,” a waif with braids and a bandaged leg clutches a jeweled sword as if preparing to pounce.

Cipriano began taking pictures at age 6 with her parents’ camera and never stopped. She recently took classes at the New England School of Photography in Boston.

While her photos might initially remind some viewers of surrealist paintings by Salvador Dali, she described herself as a “photojournalist.”

She took about 20,000 photos last year as a form of artistic self-therapy to overcome anxiety and “regain control of her life” during a difficult time.

Most of her photos are 13-by-19 inches. A few are 80-by-44 inches. All are for sale.

“I like capturing moments and discovering things,” she said at the South Main Street gallery that is hosting her first solo show. “Photography helps me cope with the fear of loss.”

Gallery founder and owner John Mottern said he wanted to exhibit Cipriano’s photos because, “They speak to viewers.”

He said he was impressed by her success staging “fantasy environments” that suggested open-ended visual narratives to viewers and her ability to achieve distinct, stylized looks for each photo.

Mottern paused before an image of a woman in a white fur coat waving a wand before a child’s “bounce house,” like a sorceress casting a spell.

“Jaina’s photos create very specific moments that convey a certain kernel of tension and drama with a slight sensual overture,’’ he said.

After viewing the photos online, multidisciplinary artist Via Perkins, of Natick, introduced Cipriano’s work to Mottern and helped curate the show. “I had never seen anything like it before,” she said.

Cipriano’s photography contrasts with her day job in the family business, Arrow Farms, which grows fresh vegetables and fruit sold at the New England Produce Center in Chelsea and other locations.

While serving as director of food safety, she is also an apprentice mechanic, learning to maintain and repair machines used to sort and move produce.

To take the photos on display, Cipriano built “sets” in her parents’ basement from selected props, including furniture, flowers and foliage, dolls and lots more to create an ambience for her costumed models.

She stressed she never Photoshops her images.

In addition to providing music and PAR Can stage lights that give her photos their luminous ambience, Cipriano also provides scripts she has written for the models whom have seen her work on Instagram and want to pose for her.

To create a mood, she might play music from “Twin Peaks,” “Donnie Darko” or “Alice in Wonderland.”

Taking her photos, she said she is “open to the magic” of capturing an image that reveals a model’s “true” self in a safe, creative atmosphere.